


Cowboys and Aliens

by S_naly



Category: Red Dead Redemption
Genre: Aliens, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Friendship, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pining, Romance, Suddenly in the past fic, Time Travel, some blood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2019-01-30
Packaged: 2019-09-16 06:56:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16949178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/S_naly/pseuds/S_naly
Summary: Dr. Marlynne So loved aliens, science fiction, and anything else that'll spark the unknown. She just didn't know she'll start loving a real cowboy from the past.-Or, the typical " Modern character in the Past" story.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It's my turn to add to the modern!character thrown into the game genre of fics. Honestly, I'm really behind on the Red Dead Redemption 2 storyline. I'm literally at the beginning of Chapter 3, so please don't spoil the ending for me. I've avoided spoilers for this long. I want to experience what happens without knowing. So, basically, this story will probably progress along with my gameplay. Ratings may increase as the story progresses.

 

Marlynne So didn’t know if the party was buzzing or if she was. Dressed in her only evening gown with champagne in one hand and her balance gripped in the other, she greeted another doctor with a slight grimace and an awkward wave. The hospital she worked at was hosting a charity event with one of the museums in the city and while she typically avoided such events, Marlynne wasn’t on call for the next few days so when she heard about the open bar, she had to swing by. Plus, the history museum had an entire gallery dedicated to crop circles and aliens, her secret obsession.  

“Dr. So,” another gentleman dressed in a tux greeted her, “you’re phone is ringing.”

“Yip, yip, cheerio,” she called back, raising her empty glass and inwardly cringing at herself. The event theme was old hollywood, not offensive stereotypes.

Turning to face the decadent windows, Marlynne peeked at the other guests around her and clumsily pulled out her phone from her dress belt. God, she hoped she didn’t flash anyone. 

“Dr. So speaking,” Marlynne answered.

“How many times do I have to call you before you answer?” The caller shouted, “Where are you? I can’t find you in the hoard of velvet and stuffed penguins.”

“Janice? I’m by the heavily curtained windows,” she shouted into the phone.

“Move somewhere quieter, Lyn,” Janice responded, “I can barely hear you.”

Marlynne glanced at her surrounding for a quieter place, but the entire hall was crowded with noise and people. “Hold on,” she told Janice, while lifting another champagne glass from a waiter, “let me get out first.”

Escaping through the archways, she moved through the hallways looking for solitude and the farther she stumbled away from the party, the more clumps of doctors and rich business men trickled away. Her legs felt loose underneath her and her brain felt like it was floating from her skull, but the warmth of the alcohol kept her satisfied. 

“Hello? Janice? Are you still there?”

“Yes, now where are you Lyn? These stuffed penguins are cornering me,” Janice replied.

Marlynne chuckled at the thought of adorable huffy penguins surrounding her friend, “You really shouldn’t call people that Janice.” She sipped her champagne, “you wanted to come to bag yourself one of the  _ penguins.” _

Her friend huffed through the phone and said, “You know I was just joking.” Janice switched to a louder voice, “I’m more into women anyways.”

“Yes, yes,” Marlynne agreed, “if one of us is getting laid tonight, I hope it's you.”

“Hopefully I do, but Lord knows you need a good dick in your life.”

Marlynne sighed in exasperation, “I know you’re into women, but trust me when I say, dick isn’t going to solve everything in my life.”

“No, but me finding you will solve some things.”

Marlynne took in her surrounding for the first time since she started talking to Janice and gaped at the sight before her. “Hey Jan,” she whispered into her phone. “I found what I came for. I’ll talk to you later,” and promptly hung up.

Right before her eyes, like the magical moment of two soul mates meeting for the first time, was the exhibit of aliens illuminated in moonlight. An excited screech rose to the top of her throat, or maybe it was the alcohol coming back up, either way Marlynne shuffled her and her long dress towards the highlight of the room. For so long, people judged her contrasting interests in being a doctor and her love for aliens. Little did they know, the idea of aliens sparked her interests in humans.

“The Time Traveller,” Marlynne read from the pedestal in front of her, “no one knows exactly how or where this drawing originated from, but people speculate that from the aged papyrus the drawing is on, and where papyrus was more popularly known to be located, that aliens or the unknown depicted images of present day skyscrapers and ancient wonders in the same context.” 

Her trembling fingers traced the letters of aliens gently. Ever since she was a child, the great unknown filled her with giddiness. Just the very idea of some other life outside their little world blew her mind. One day, she always thought, one day humans won’t be the only ones searching for alien life. One day they’ll look for us, and they’ll need someone who knows about the human body. 

“Many years later,” Marlynne continued reading, “archeologists found rock carvings at vast locations shown in the very same drawing, but it won’t be for another few years until someone makes the connection that the two are linked.”

Marlynne didn’t hold back as she squealed in excitement at the rock carvings before her. No one was around her. No one was even in the exhibit.

And the rock carvings weren’t behind glass containers. 

A little touch didn’t hurt. The rocks won’t mind a little stroke.

A single finger touched the cool surface of the rock, followed by her whole palm, and a loving caress of the engravings.

Light flickered on behind her. “Calmly remove your hands from the artifact this instant and turn around,” a voice shouted at her.

Hastily Marlynne removed her hand and spun around, but in all her wonder, she forgot how many glasses of champagne she consumed and tumbled on the trail of dress. A ear deafening gun shot rang through her ears and the alcohol bubbled in her throat, but despite all that, the sudden flash of green she was falling through confused her the most. 

===

One gun shot, Marlynne understood, after all she definitely wasn’t supposed to be touching anything in a museum. Later she’ll argue that the museum was at fault for not taking necessary preservation precautions, but that’ll be another time. However, multiple guns being fire around her was completely unnecessary, and so was the shouting and the cursing. Other than the nasty fall she took, she didn’t feel any life threatening impact wounds, so she can cross off being shot from her “what the fuck is going on” list. Slowly in the midst of all the chaos around her, she peeked open her eyelids and froze. 

Heart in her throat, or maybe her lungs in her throat, she didn’t know anymore. All her brain could process was that obviously oxygen was not getting to it because she wasn’t in Kansas anymore. 

Note to self, she thought, stop it with the lame references. 

The cold hard concrete she thought she landed on was replaced with a golden field of dead grass. Or maybe wheat, Marlynne didn’t know. She was a doctor, not a botanist. And the gun shots she-

The hair on her nape rose in fear, the gun shots. She had to get out of range. In a panic, Marlynne scrambled towards the closest shelter she could find, a large boulder facing away from the gun fight. 

Just what in the hell was going on, she thought to herself, either she got roaring drunk and she’s hallucinating or she’s dead. A bullet whipped through the side of her boulder, her eyes widened in disbelief, if she wasn’t dead now, she will be soon.

“You damn O’ Driscolls,” a deep voice shouted from somewhere much closer than she liked. Before Marlynne could panic even more, a man jumped behind the rock and knocked the breath out of her once again. In the few seconds she had to look at him before he was ducking behind the boulder with her, she appreciated his beauty, but jesus christ, he was heavy.

“What in god’s name are you doing here,” the beautiful man shouted at her. “This ain’t no place for woman like you.” He agilely straddled her body to better hide behind the boulder and poked out to shoot at the opposing people. Ducking down again, his arms caged Marlynne from above and he hunched his head over hers, his eyes glanced her over once but remained at the deep v-neck cut of her dress.

“Hey,” Marlynne pointed to her eyes, “eyes up here, beautiful.”

The man scoffed at her, and peeked out from safety to shoot again. “You can’t blame a man for looking at woman who’s practically naked.” Again shots rung from both the man’s gun and the others, and just as quickly as the gunfire came, it disappeared, leaving only the eerie silence of nature.

Slowly, the man got off her and shuffled his way towards the area where the gunfire were. “Are you okay?” Marlynne shouted as she stood up. “Shouldn’t be tell the authorities about what happened?”

Instantly, the man turned on her and growled, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, miss.”

“But there’s people here who need to see the doctor, or taken in to the police,” Marlynne paused, “are- are you stealing from their bodies?”

“Dead folks have no use more their things anymore,” he responded.

“Oh my god,” Marlynne panicked, rushing towards the closest body she was near and checked vitals. “If you’re not going to the police, then I will. As my oath as a doctor, it is my duty to heal the people.”

“You leave me no choice then,” the man muttered, pulling out some rope. 

“What are you doing with those, come help me.”

“Just shut up and come quietly,” the man reassured. 

Within a blink of an eye, Marlynne found herself struggling on the back of a horse, hogtied and getting sicker by the second. “If you don’t release me, I’m going to hurl. I’ve had enough drinks to puke out a lake,” she shouted.

“Try not to get any on my horse, will you? You’ll regret it.” He responded, urging the horse to begin galloping.

With the motion of the horse, and the pressure against her stomach, Marlynne puked everything she consumed that night. And if she got the majority of it on the man’s horse then that’s what he got for hogtying her onto it.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Small warning: some description of blood, but nothing too graphic. Also, I am not a doctor of any sorts, so any medical description or procedure will probably not be accurate.

As a doctor, Marlynne had a strong stomach. Sometimes patients rush into her office and strut their black and blue toes, while proclaiming that they tried every “home-remedy” on the internet to bleed it out. She dealt with it, even if it looked like the patient stabbed a searing hot paperclip in their nail bed multiple times. Dr. Marlynne So was a professional, the amount of times she’s been puked on far surpassed her all-nighters in university and despite how off-putting her patients’ “illnesses” are, they make her day far more than regular flu patients. However, after everything emptied out of Marlynne’s stomach, regret filled it back up. 

Five minutes hanging over the back end of a horse didn’t seem so bad until it hit the half hour mark and every time the wind struck her just right, the stench of her puke made her dry heave. Not only that, but Marlynne never processed how close her head was to the horse’s ass until it took the largest shit she had ever seen.

Right next to her.

Practically in her face.

“Please let me go,” Marlynne pleaded, “I’ve never been on a horse before.”

“You still going to the sheriffs?” The man asked.

“Someone’s got to let them know about the shoot out!” She exclaimed, “Some of them could still be helped.”

“Ain’t no helping the O’Driscolls,” he answered, “those damned animals. They don’t deserve your pity, ma’am. They don’t treat the likes of you kindly.”

“The likes of me?”

“Prostitutes,” he named, “women of pleasure, I don’t know what you call yourselves these days.”

“Prostitutes?” Marlynne exclaimed. “I am not a prostitute. I am well-known doctor. A person of science. I did not spend years in a university to be a prostitute.”

“Well,” the man muttered under his breath, “if you ain’t a prostitute then you’re crazy as a loon.”

Enraged, Marlynne strained against the ropes and wiggled. “I am not a prostitute nor am I crazy!”

“I ain’t ever seen a lady doctor before,” he reasoned, “and I know universities don’t accept women.”

“What year do you think we’re living in if you  _ know, _ ” she said mockingly, “that women can’t do anything? We’re way past women suffrage now, buddy!”

The man scoffed, “I didn’t say women can’t do anything. I’ve known feisty, strong women who can shoot me dead and hide my body, easy. But here in 1899, there ain’t no  _ woman suffrage _ you’re talking about.”

Marlynne paused and processed what he said, “1899?”

“Well the last time I cared to look at the newspaper was a few months ago, and it said 1899. Unless you want to argue about that too, ma’am.”

“Who’s the president right now?” Marlynne asked, waiting just a second before realizing, “Nevermind, I don’t even know any of the past presidents. Can you at least tell me where I am?”

“We’re in Lemoyne.”

Marlynne quieted down, contemplating the new information thrown at her and muttered, “We’re certainly not in Kansas anymore, Toto.”

===

Hours passed, or Marlynne assumed it did since there was no longer daylight, and while she tried to glean more information off the stranger and make sense of everything, the only conclusion she could come up with was aliens. 

Or she was hallucinating, but the least her brain could’ve done for her was imagine the future, not the wild west. She didn’t even like the wild west.

Lost in her reasoning, Marlynne nearly rolled off the back of the horse when it came to a jilting stop. “Damn it, woman,” the man said, “I told you not to puke on the horse.”

She braced herself as she felt a pair of heated hands on her waist. “And I told you to untie me so -” Marlynne screamed as she was suddenly flipped in the air and tossed over the man’s shoulder. “You could’ve warned me you were going to do that, and my name is Marlynne.”

“Well,  _ Marlynne _ , I’ll  _ warn  _ you that I’m making camp.” He settled her on the ground, “So don’t try to escape. I will catch you.”

Marlynne made face at him and watched him set up. “Like I can with my arms and legs tied up.”

“The women I know carry a knife strapped to their legs, and you seem feisty enough to carry two.”

“You should see me with a scalpel,” she scoffed. “If I swear to you that I won’t run off, will you untie me? I’m positive I’m losing circulating in my appendages.”

The man paused his progress and hesitantly wielded his knife, “Swear that you won’t? You have nowhere to run. Not unless you can run miles to the next town.”

“I-” Marlynne paused, realizing her situation once more,  “I don’t have anywhere to go.”

Silence filled the space between them, and the crickets chirped like the sitcoms on TV shows.

“Arthur,” the man muttered, cutting her ties loose.

“What?”

“My name is Arthur.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Arthur,” Marlynne said, thrusting her hand out to shake. 

Raising a brow at her hand, he slowly reached out to grab her hand but startled when her delicate hands lunged for his. “What are you doing?” He exclaimed.

“No,” she warned, “what are  _ you _ doing? You’re dripping blood down your arms.” Marlynne gripped his forearms lightly, following the trail of blood up.

“It’s just a graze,” Arthur stated. “I’ve had worse.”

“It won’t just be a graze if you keep downplaying it like that,” Marlynne grumbled, taking a closer look at the wound. Through his shirt, the cut didn’t look too bad, but if it was bleeding this much then he would probably need stitches. “Remove your shirt please, sir,” she asked, “I need a closer look.”

Arthur looked at her warily. “This isn’t some ploy to escape is it?”

“Shut up and take off your shirt while I get my kit,” she demanded, lifting up the slit of her dress slightly. As a child, she’s seen enough movies of situations where doctors are unexpectedly needed, so Marlynne learned to always carry a small medical kit with her as a precaution. Everyone she knew said she was too worried, but if someone on an airplane needed a doctor, she would be ready. 

“What are you doing? Why are you lifting your dress?” Arthur eyed her newfound skin. 

Marlynne reached for her handmade thigh holsters and pulled out her medkit. “Stay focused, Arthur,” she said, pulling out the instruments she needed. “Do you by any chance have any alcohol?”

“Whatever I have in my horse’s satchel.” Arthur whistled his horse closer and reached for his whiskey.

Marlynne paused. “That’s not exactly what I meant, but that’ll work for anesthesia. Listen Arthur, I’m not familiar with old western medical procedures, but where I’m from, our medical practice is far more advance so bear with me while I stitch you up.” She stepped closer to him, needle in hand. 

“I don’t know where you’re from, ma’am, but don’t look down on western capabilities.” Arthur drank from his bottle. “If you say you’re a doctor, then you’re a doctor. But don’t think you can start stitching me up. I said it was just a small graze.”

“Look,” Marlynne sternly said, “if you don’t let me disinfect the wound and stitch it up, I will shoot you myself.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Leave a comment and let me know what you think. I may not always comment back, but I really appreciate any sort of love and support.


End file.
